Is it legal to record a conversation in the Northern Territory?
In the Northern Territory you can record a conversation you're part of without telling anyone. Recording a conversation you're not part of is an offence, and sharing a recording has separate limits.
- Recording a talk you're in
- Yes, with no conditions attached. The offence reaches only a conversation you're not part of, so a participant can record without telling anyone. Sharing it is a separate question 1
- Recording one you're not in
- An offence. Using a device to record a private conversation you're not part of, knowing you don't have everyone's consent, can bring 2 years in prison 1
- Sharing a recording
- Restricted. Passing on or publishing a recording made with a device is a separate offence. The ways out an ordinary person can use are everyone's agreement, a court or disciplinary proceeding, or it's reasonably needed to protect you or the public 1
- Biggest penalty
- Up to $48,500 or 2 years in prison, for recording a conversation you're not part of and for sharing a recording you shouldn't 1
- Phone calls
- A call you're on counts as a conversation you're part of, so you can record it. Intercepting a call still crossing the network is a separate Commonwealth offence 3
In the Northern Territory you can record a conversation you’re part of without telling anyone. The Act asks nothing more of you — not consent, not a reason. 1
The limits sit on either side of that. Recording a conversation you have no part in is an offence, and passing on a recording is a second one. 1
Can you record a conversation you’re part of in the NT?
Yes, with nothing attached.
The offence is aimed at someone recording a conversation they have no part in, so a participant falls outside it. A private conversation is one the people having it clearly meant to keep to themselves; if you’d reasonably expect to be overheard, it isn’t private to start with. 1
s 11(1) The offence is aimed at recording other people Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT) 1
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if the person: (a) installs, uses or maintains a listening device to listen to, monitor or record a private conversation to which the person is not a party; and (b) knows the device is installed, used or maintained without the express or implied consent of each party to the conversation. Maximum penalty: 250 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years.
Two things both have to be true before the offence bites. The person recording is not a party, and they know they don’t have everyone’s consent. Miss either one and there is no offence. 1
s 4 Who counts as a party to the conversation Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT) 1
party means: (a) for a private conversation – a person by or to whom words are spoken in the course of the conversation; or (b) for a private activity – a person who takes part in the activity.
A party is a person the words are spoken by or to. If you were in the room or on the line, that’s you, so the first condition can never be met and recording the conversation is fine. 1
Can you record a conversation you’re not part of?
No, unless everyone in it agrees. The Territory builds the consent requirement into the offence: you commit it by recording a conversation you are not a party to, knowing that each party has not consented. 1
One speaker’s agreement will not do. A party in the NT is only someone the words are spoken by or to, so consent from one of them leaves a recorder outside the conversation and inside the offence. 1
Most of the exceptions are for warrants, police and similar official use. One is not. 1
s 43 Emergency use in the public interest Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT) 1
A person may use a listening device to listen to, monitor or record a private conversation if at the time of use there are reasonable grounds for believing the circumstances are so serious and the matter is of such urgency that the use of the device is in the public interest.
Anyone can rely on that one, but the bar is high: the circumstances have to be serious enough and urgent enough that using the device is in the public interest. It is written for an emergency, not for a convenient recording. 1
It also comes with a duty, and missing it is its own offence. Within 2 business days of starting to use the device you have to give a written report to a Supreme Court Judge. The report has to say what device you used, when and for how long, who you recorded, what made you think it was necessary, and what you mean to do with the material. Not reporting carries up to $19,400 or a year in prison. 1
s 45(1)-(2) Using that route means reporting it Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT) 1
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if the person: (a) uses a listening device or optical surveillance device under section 43 or 44; and (b) does not give a written report complying with subsection (2) to a Supreme Court Judge within 2 business days after starting to use the device. Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units or imprisonment for 1 year. (2) The report must state the following: (a) particulars of the device used; (b) particulars of the use of the device and the period during which it was used; (c) the name, if known, of any person whose private conversation was listened to, monitored or recorded or whose private activity was observed or visually recorded; (d) the circumstances that caused the person to believe it was necessary to listen to, monitor or record the private conversation or observe or visually record the private activity; (e) the general use made or to be made of any evidence or information obtained by use of the device. […]
Can you record a phone call in the NT?
Yes, if you are on the call. Being on it makes you a party to that conversation. 1
Commonwealth law adds a separate offence: intercepting a call while it is still crossing the network. 3
s 6(1) What the Commonwealth means by intercepting a call Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) 3
(1) For the purposes of this Act (other than Schedule 1), but subject to this section, interception of a communication passing over a telecommunications system consists of listening to or recording, by any means, such a communication in its passage over that telecommunications system without the knowledge of the person making the communication.
Timing decides which applies. Recording the call after it reaches your phone is outside the Commonwealth ban. Catching it in transit is inside it, and carries up to 2 years in prison. 3
Can you share a recording in the NT?
Being allowed to record something never comes with a right to publish it. Passing on or publishing a record of a private conversation is its own offence in the NT, and it applies to a recording you were entitled to make. 1
s 15 Sharing a recording is a separate offence Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT) 1
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if the person: (a) communicates or publishes a record or report of a private conversation or private activity; and (b) knows the record or report has been made as a direct or indirect result of the use of a listening device, optical surveillance device or tracking device. Maximum penalty: 250 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply: (a) to a communication or publication made with the express or implied consent of each party to the private conversation or private activity; or (b) to a communication or publication that is reasonably necessary: (i) in the public interest; or (ii) for protecting the lawful interests of the person making it; or (c) to a communication or publication in the course of a legal or disciplinary proceeding; […]
Three ways through are open to an ordinary person. Everyone in the conversation can consent to it. You can share it where doing so is reasonably necessary in the public interest, or to protect your own lawful interests. And you can share it in the course of a legal or disciplinary proceeding. 1
Most states let you hand a recording to someone who was in the conversation. The NT exceptions don’t include that. 1
Each offence carries up to $48,500 or 2 years in prison. 1
You have a recording in the NT. What now?
Were you in the conversation? If you were, making the recording was lawful, and no reason or consent was needed. If you were not, it was an offence unless everyone in the conversation had consented, or you genuinely didn’t know they hadn’t, or the emergency public-interest ground applied. 1
Sharing is judged on its own terms. The NT restricts passing on a recording whether or not making it was lawful. 1
Who you can give it to. Anyone, if everyone in the conversation consents. A court or a disciplinary hearing. Or wider, where the public interest or protecting your own lawful interests reasonably requires it. Handing it to someone who was simply present is not on the list. 1
The figures. Recording unlawfully and sharing unlawfully each carry up to $48,500 or 2 years in prison. Those are 250 penalty units at the NT value of $194 a unit. 2
What it costs to get it wrong
Common questions
Is it legal to record a conversation without consent in the Northern Territory?
Yes, if you're one of the people in it. The NT offence only reaches recording a conversation you're not part of. As a participant you can record without telling the others, but sharing the recording is a separate question. 1
Can you record a phone call in the NT?
Yes, if you're on the call. Being on it makes you part of the conversation, so recording is allowed. Intercepting someone's call while it's still crossing the network is a separate Commonwealth offence. 3
Is it illegal to record someone without them knowing in the NT?
Only if you're not part of the conversation. Recording people you're not talking to, knowing you don't have everyone's consent, is an offence carrying up to 2 years in prison. 1
Can I share a recording of a conversation in the NT?
Only in the situations s 15(2) lists. Communicating or publishing a recording made with a device is its own offence unless every person consents, it's for a legal or disciplinary proceeding, or it's reasonably needed in the public interest or to protect you. 1
What is the penalty for illegally recording someone in the NT?
Up to $48,500 or 2 years in prison. That figure is 250 penalty units at the Territory's value of $194 a unit. The same maximum covers recording others unlawfully and sharing a recording you shouldn't. 1
Every source on this page
The small numbered marks throughout this page point to this list — 1 means source 1 below.
- Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT), ss 4, 11, 15, 43, 45
- Penalty Units Regulations 2010 (NT), reg 2 (penalty unit = $194)
- Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth), ss 5F, 6, 7, 105
Reproduced from the Northern Territory Legislation website at 7 Sept 2026 with the permission of the Northern Territory. This is not an official version of Northern Territory legislation. For current law please go to https://legislation.nt.gov.au.
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 7 Sept 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Reproduced without changes. This is not an official version. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
Other rules for Northern Territory
- Are e-bikes legal in the Northern Territory? Legal, with conditions
- Are e-scooters legal in the Northern Territory? Illegal
- How high can a fence be in the NT? Legal, with conditions
- What are the pool fence rules in the NT? Legal, with conditions
Recording conversations rules elsewhere
- Australian Capital Territory Legal, with conditions
- New South Wales Legal, with conditions
- Queensland Legal, with conditions
- South Australia Legal, with conditions
- Tasmania Legal, with conditions
- Victoria Legal, with conditions
- Western Australia Legal, with conditions
Page history
Every change to this page
- 23 Sept 2026
- First published. Current to the Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT) as in force 1 June 2026, and to the NT penalty unit value of $194 from 1 July 2026.